Thursday, 14 February 2013

HUGUAN SIOU TITLE ‘SACRED’

KOTA KINABALU: The title of
Huguan Siou is considered ‘sacred’ by the KDM community and should only
bestowed upon those from the community.

Minister of Tourism, Culture
and Environment, Datuk Masidi Manjun, said Malaysia was a racially, religiously
and culturally diverse country and people should have mutual respect for each
others traditions and cultural sensitivities.

“The person who bestowed
this title was probably trying to gain political mileage but the person who
accepted it is either ignorant or just plain insensitive. Either way it is
unacceptable of a person of his years of experience in politics and
government,” he said.

He said the title of Huguan
Siou should not be used as a political tool to further one’s agenda.

“Irrespective of our
different political affliation and disagreement on many issues, Sabahans must
be united in recognising and respecting our cultural heritage and tradition,”
he said.

Masidi said, any action that
was deemed to belittle the institution of the Huguan Siou was an action
belittling the cultural heritage of Sabah, adding that political agenda should
always give way to the overriding interest of Sabahans.

Herbert also took APS
President, Datuk Seri Panglima Wilfred M Bumburing to task for not putting a
stop to the act of garlanding Anwar with the sash.

“Bumburing was present at
the function and he should have protested immediately when he saw that Anwar
would be presented with the sash. How could Bumburing, who claims to be
championing the rights of the KDM community allow an ‘outsider’ to be bestowed with
the title of our Paramount leader?” the Kadamaian assemblyman pointed out. (BP)